The Best Day
by only-because3
Summary: They’re gonna be a whole town away. Away from the people who know them and the eyes that would judge and become suspicious of them if they were to see them together. QUICK X-MAS oneshot


Hey everyone! So this is a little (slight) Christmas oneshot! I'm not thrilled with it because I was rushing to finish it but I hope y'all enjoy and that everyone has a happy and safe holidays!

* * *

They're gonna be a whole town away. Away from the people who know them and the eyes that would judge and become suspicious of them if they were to see them together.

She told Finn that her sister was in town and that they were going to spend the whole day together and discuss her little predicament.

Finn's none the wiser when he drops her off at the small restaurant on 4th and S.

When Finn's car is out of sight, she walks across the street and around the corner in the freezing December weather. As soon as she gets into his truck the hot air of the heater hits her, warming her whole body up quickly. "Jesus Quinn," he says, obviously upset as they start driving away. "It's barely 36 degrees outside and you have on a _dress_ and _leggings_?"

She rolls her eyes, tossing her blonde hair over her shoulder. "Pants are too uncomfortable to wear now. None that I own fit me. If it weren't freezing I wouldn't even be wearing the leggings," she responds, taking off Mrs. Hudson's old winter jacket. Yet another thing that doesn't fit around her correctly.

She lifts up her yellow dress and moves the elastic band of the leggings down so that it rests below her extended belly that has recently, and officially, popped out. Her fingers touch the grooves the elastic left on her protruding stomach and frowns. "Thank you," she says quietly as she lets her dress fall back against her.

Puck nods and the ride is completely silent until they get to the mall the next town over.

When they get inside the mall, she asks where he got all the money he's using to buy her proper clothes. He shrugs. "I got a job." He doesn't tell her that he's also using all his Hanukkah money.

They walk side by side in the crowded mall, people walking at fast paces around them, each one of them trying to get the perfect Christmas gifts. Neither is sure where they're going and so for a long time they just stroll. They don't touch each other even though his hand is itching it touch hers.

He hates coming to malls during this season. He glances over at Quinn and sees her staring wide eyed at all the decorations hanging from the ceiling. "I really do love the mall around this time," she says almost breathlessly, walking over to the edge of the walkway, peering down at the ground floor. There's a long line wrapping around the ginormous Christmas tree in the middle of the mall, little kids dressed in thick coats waiting impatiently for their turn to sit on Santa's lap. A smile erupts on to Quinn's face. "When I was little, my mom would come to this mall to do her Christmas shopping. If she wasn't shopping for me, I'd get to come along and every year I'd wait and wait and wait in line until finally I got to sit on Santa's lap. It always seemed like the same man, which seems a little ridiculous now, but each and every year I'd get what I asked him for."

She takes her eyes off the crowd and looks at him beside her. She smiles softly, tilts her head a little and shrugs. "It always just made Christmas so much more… special for me, ya know? Always made it feel like Christmas…" He notices that she rubs her belly absently.

He pauses for a moment and she looks back down at the crowd. "Do you want to go wait in line," he asks and her head whips back at him. Her face lights up like a little kid's ("She _is_ still a kid," he thinks; they both are) and she almost nods yes. But then, her hand absently rubs her belly and the look that was just on her face is gone. She shakes her head solemnly.

"No, we should probably just find a store and head back," she says quietly, stealing one last look at the festivities below them before grabbing his hand and walking away.

* * *

She only picks out absolute necessities. She gets a pair of pants and a jacket. "That's all you're getting," Puck asks as she comes out of the dressing room, watching as she nods her head. "No. You need more than one pair of pants and a jacket. Go pick out more stuff."

"This is all I need Puck, really. I already feel bad enough that you're buying me this stuff," she pouts, motioning to the two clothing items in her hands.

Puck sighs, tiredly rubbing the back of his neck. Quinn starts heading to the register but he grabs her arm and pulls her back. He quickly grabs the first shirt he sees and holds it up. "What about this? Do you like this," he asks and she wrinkles her nose, arching her eyebrow in the process. He looks at the shirt, really looks at it, and sees her distaste. The shirt has ruffles and sequins up and down the front, the whole thing a horrible brown color. "Okay, not this shirt. But there has to be a shirt in here that you like, a couple of shirts actually. And you need more than one pair of pants. And you need a _coat_, not a jacket."

If she didn't feel like she didn't deserve all this she'd smile. "Puck, this is enough. I can make due with everything else I've got. The money you have could go to so much else, something important."

He stomps his foot like a child and crosses his arm against his chest, glaring down at her. "Right now, nothing is more important than keeping you and my," he doesn't say our because of how he knows she'll react, "daughter healthy and safe. And you walking around in summer clothing in the middle of fucking winter is not going to keep my girls safe or healthy. I'm surprised you haven't caught pneumonia yet," he lectures, sighing once more. "So please, just pick out some clothes and stop worrying about the friggen price tag."

Now, she does smile. It's small but genuine. It sort of scares her because that's the sweetest thing anyone's said to her in a while.

An hour later, Quinn stands in the dressing room in a pair of maternity jeans (which she deems the best invention _ever_) and tries on the last shirt in the large stack Puck is forcing her to try on. It's a pretty top, one that reminds her of the ones Terri wears but she tries to push that thought out of her head. The shirt is blue with yellow flowers scattered about; it's a silky material and it feels good against her skin. She puts her blonde head through the shirt, arms slipping into the short sleeves. She motions to pull the shirt down but the shirt won't budge, the empire waist is too small to fit over her larger chest. She tries to yank the fabric over them once more but it's useless. She lets out a frustrated sigh. "Puck…"

"Yeah?"

"I need your help," she says, opening the dressing room door a crack, alerting the boy to which room she was in.

"Do you not know how to put on clothes," he asks with a laugh, slipping into the small changing room.

"Apparently not. I can't get the shirt all the way down," she whines and he smiles softly.

"Put your arms up," he instructs as he takes the end of the shirt in his hands.

He tries to ignore the site of her bare baby bump (she probably hates it but it just makes him want her so much more) and the fact that because of the size of the room they're oh so very close.

On three he pulls down hard and the shirt glides down. Quinn hisses slightly, the force of him pulling and the smallness of the waist hurting her already sore breasts. She turns around so that now she faces the mirror, smoothing the shirt down over her stomach. It's a beautiful shirt, makes her bump obvious; she runs her hand over her stomach nervously and looks at Puck through the mirror.

"You look beautiful," he tells her and she smiles. His hands trail down her back and take the two strings of fabric sewed to the side of the shirt and ties them into a droopy bow.

She still watches him in the mirror, feels him move and his warmth against her back, looks at the look on his face, like he's nervous but happy and scared all at the same time.

She wants _him_.

Her smile turns down a bit and she clears her throat. "Thank you," she says quietly. He nods and stands there awkwardly, trying to look at something besides her but he can't.

So he dips his head and says he'll let her get dressed as he walks out of the dressing room.

* * *

He bought a lot of the stuff she tried on and she has to walk to the other side of the store when the woman is ringing it up. She had already calculated the price roughly in her head as she sorted through which ones she liked and which ones she didn't. The coat itself was $60 and the jeans she got were way more than she thought pants should cost. She figured that the cost would come close to $250 and she hadn't even added tax.

She rubs her stomach as she waits, trying to take her mind off the amount that Puck is spending on her. She doesn't deserve it and doesn't want him to but she did need these clothes. Everything was getting so tight or just didn't fit at all anymore. She looks down at her new outfit (Puck refused to let her go back outside in her dress, insisting she just take the tags off a top and a pair of jeans so they lady could ring them up), pleased with the fact that she had pants that fit. It was like a fricken Christmas miracle.

She sighs tiredly and rubs her lower back. She looks down at the sweater she wears (it's a blue v-neck and really quite beautiful) and frowns because it shows of her bump. "No one knows you here Quinn." She jumps slightly, turning around to see Puck standing behind her. His hands are filled with bags and she motions to take a few but he moves them away from her grasp. "You don't have to carry the bags. I got 'em."

"What did you mean nobody knows me here," she asks when they start to walk out of the store, her arms naturally wrapping around her belly, almost trying to hide it from the world.

"Here you're not Quinn Fabray whose life has done a complete 180. Here you're just a girl who happens to be pregnant. You don't have to hide her here," he says softly, pointing to her stomach. He maneuvers all the bags into one of his hands and uses his newly freed one to push her arms away from her stomach.

She arches an eyebrow slightly. "Who knew something like that could come out of Noah Puckerman's mouth," she says lightly, a small smile forming on her lips.

He shrugs. "I have my moments." Her smile gets a little wider and she loops her arm through his.

"In that case, can we stay here a little while longer? It feels like Christmas here… I feel happy here."

How can he say no to that?

* * *

Here, he's not Noah Puckerman, the football player who secretly knocked up his best friend's girlfriend and just happens to be sort-of-but-not-really (he's lying to himself) in love with said girlfriend. He's not the Noah Puckerman that Quinn Fabray wants absolutely nothing to do with.

Here, he is Noah Puckerman, expectant father, his baby mamma's fingers laced with his. She stays by his side and smiles (her smile is so large its amazing) and her belly is shown in all its glory.

He never wants to leave this mall.

But it's getting late and after they eat (she decided as soon as they sat down in the food court that she wanted the biggest burger she could find. She devoured it in a matter of minutes. He started at her wide eyed and she furrowed her brow. "_Your_ daughter is the reason I'm eating so much," she told him and he almost wanted to faint when she said your.) they start walking back to the parking lot on the other side of the mall.

They pass by the big Christmas tree on their way and he notices Quinn's walking slow. He looks at her and watches as her eyes stay glued to the short line for Santa, a small sad smile on her lips. Her hand creeps on to her stomach, rubbing it softly before she turns her head and eyes remain locked forward. "C'mon," he says as he stops walking, tugging on her hand to bring her back towards him.

"What?" He doesn't say anything, just walks them back to the line of children and parents. She tucks her blonde hair behind her ears and then puts her hands on her extended stomach nervously.

"You're going to see Santa, what does it look like we're doing?"

She shakes her head and backs slowly out of the line. "Puck, I'm 16 years old and pregnant. I'm not going to sit on Santa's lap."

"Why not? Like I told you before, nobody knows you here so why should you care what they think? Seeing Santa was one of your highlights as a kid and you've been pretty down lately, which is partly my fault, so why not just sit in line and be a little kid again? At least for a few minutes?" He has a sort of puppy dog look on his face and he seems to be trying so hard to just keep the smile on her face and this did used to be her favorite part of the season…

So she smiles and nods her head, wearily looking at all the families in front of them. For so long she's been taught to worry about what other people would think of her and her family. But Puck's right. She's never met these people and she'll likely never see them again. She has every right to enjoy herself and if that means she'll be the oldest person sitting on Santa's lap today then so be it.

The two teens stand in line, Quinn impatiently tapping her foot. "I thought that lines were supposed to go faster when you're older? That they just seemed to move so slowly because you're an impatient kid?"

Puck chuckles to himself as they reach the front of the line. "Maybe you've just always been and always will be inpatient." She shoves his arm and he loses his footing and almost falls on a poor elf. She laughs loudly, a big belly laugh erupting from her mouth and he's not sure she's ever looked more beautiful.

Before he has time to get back at her, the bored teenage elf waves her forward. Puck points to the other side, silently telling her that he'll meet her at the exit. Quinn walks silently to the man in red, his white beard meeting his red suit. "Hello there little lady." The old man's voice booms and she smiles politely. She steps toward the thrown where the jolly man sits and stands there awkwardly. "It's alright to sit down honey. I carry more than baby weight myself," he tells her with a laugh. He pats his knee with his white gloved hand and smiles at her. She sits down on his knee, trying to keep her weight off of the old man's leg.

"Hello Santa," she says shyly, her own hands resting on her stomach.

"And what would you and your baby like for Christmas this year?" She weighs her head from side to side because there is so much that she needs. She needs money and a roof over her head (one that wouldn't disappear when the truth came out) and she'll probably need even bigger clothes in the months to come. And then there was what she was going to do when the baby did come…

She sighs and Santa looks at her from over his small wire framed glasses. "What is it dear? It's Christmas! You look as though it's the end of the world."

She tries to put on a small smile but it fails a little. "I just don't know what to do or what to ask for Santa… There's so much and it's all so complicated. So I guess all I can ask for is the broadest thing I can. For Christmas, I just want everything to work out okay. That whatever happens my baby girl will be healthy and that I'll make the right decisions." She looks at the man with the rosy cheeks and then blushes slightly herself. "I suppose that was a stupid wish. It's not like you can give me that."

Their conversation is interrupted when the bored worker behind the camera asks them both to smile. She places a big smile on her face (the one she's perfected from all the family photos over the years) and lets her hands rest on the top of her belly. The light flashes and as soon as all the flashes of color is gone the elf who had told her it was her turn tells her to hurry up.

The old man chuckled, his belly indeed shaking like a bowl full of jelly. "Quinn, when have I ever not gotten you what you wanted for Christmas?" He hands her a mini candy cane as her mouth hangs open, eyebrow arched in question and confusion.

"How did…?" The angry elf teen pushes her forward and off to the exit and she turns her head around to look at Santa one more time.

"Merry Christmas," he says loudly, waving at her just before the next child climbs into his lap.

"You ready to go," Puck asks when she walks over to him, her free picture with Santa in her hand. She still looks confused and he asks if anything she's okay.

"Um…" she glances down at the picture in her hand, her smiling face beaming back up at her, the old man's smile just as big. "Yeah… I'm fine." She gives him a small smile and slips her hand into his as they start to walk.

* * *

By the time they get back into town it's late and dark. Quinn rests against his arm, eyes shut and breathing slow. She'd fallen asleep about a half an hour ago, eyes fluttering underneath her eyelids every time headlights flash across her face. He pulls up two houses down from Finn's and drops a kiss on her blonde head before he wakes her up and tells her they're home.

She stretches her arms over her head and yawns, liking her dry lips. "Thank you Noah," she tells him quietly as she gathers the bags at her feet. She wants to kiss him but she's still with Finn and that would be wrong. She's tired of making the wrong decisions no matter how good they made her feel. Still, the feeling inside her is too much so leaves him a chaste kiss on the cheek before getting out of the truck.

That night, they both fall asleep with smiles on their faces.

* * *

On Christmas morning Mrs. Hudson comes in from outside. "Quinn there was a card in the mailbox for you. I guess I must've missed it when I grabbed the mail yesterday." Quinn takes the white envelope from her and slides her index finger under the lip. She smiles when she pulls the card from the envelope, a smiling snowman looking back at her. She opens the card and almost drops it when she reads what's written inside.

_Quinn,_

_I promise you'll get what you asked for. You'll have to wait four more months for her to arrive._

_-Santa Claus_


End file.
